Apparatus for cleaning an air nozzle of a cotton gin



Jam. 31, 1961 E. 1.. HENDERSON 2,969,564

APPARATUS FOR CLEANING AN AIR NOZZLE OF A COTTON GIN Filed. Sept. 24, 1958 ELL/S 1.. HENDERSON INVENTOR HUEBNER a womsz.

' ATTORNL-Ki United States Patent-O APPARATUS FOR CLEANING AN AIR NOZZLE OF A COTTON GIN Ellis L. Henderson, P.0. Box 366, San Joaquin, Calif.

Filed Sept. 24, 1958, Ser. No. 762,978

1 Claim. (Cl. 19-59) The present invention relates to an apparatus for cleaning the air blast nozzle of a cotton gin and more particularly to a wiper for more thoroughly removing motes and trash from the air nozzle which is adapted to direct a blast of air against the ginning saws for doffing cotton therefrom.

In most modern cotton gins, it is conventional to doff the cotton from the gin saws by a continuous blast of air directed against the cotton on the saws. For this purpose, such gins provide a lint fiue having an open receiving end adjacent to the doffing station of the gin saws, and an air blast nozzle adjacent to said receiving end so as to blow the cotton from the saws into the flue.

'Whirling saws pass between ginning ribs to pull the lint cotton from the seeds and to move it into the doffing station. The teeth of the saws frequently cut the cotton seeds and throw motes, leaves mixed in with the cotton, v

and other trash through the ginning ribs and into the mote chamber. Although most of the motes and trash are drawn into the bottom of the mote chamber and carried away, a certain portion collects on the surface of the air blast nozzle. Accumulation of such debris on the nozzle not only interferes with ginning operations but has been known to accumulate to such degree that the resultant friction constitutes a fire hazard.

It has been known in the past to provide a Wiper consisting of an elongated shaft rotatably mounted in the gin stand in laterally adjacent spaced relation to the described surface of the air nozzle, and a plurality of elongated blades radially outwardly extended from the shaft in substantially equally circumferentially spaced relation for engagement with the surface of the nozzlev so as to wipe or scrape accumulated debris therefrom. However, these radial or straight blades have not been fully satisfactory since the blades only periodically engage the nozzle so that the wiper is subject to periodic resistance to rotation. Probably more significant, however, is the fact that when rubber or other resiliently flexible and compressible material is employed as the blade mate rial, the blades tend to flex rearwardly over accumulated debris rather than to remove the same. The result is that such wipers are unsatisfactory.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for cleaning air blast nozzles of cotton gins.

Another object is to provide an improved wiper for cleaning such nozzles.

Another object is to minimize the fire hazard incident to excessive accumulation of debris on air blast nozzles in cotton gins.

Another object is to provide an improved blade for a wiper as described above.

Another object is to provide a blade for a wiper of the type described at least a portion of which is always in contact with the nozzle so as to maintain the resistance to rotation of the wiper incident to nozzle engagement at a substantially constant level.

Another object is to obviate the tendencies of a wiper ICC blade of such a wiper to flex over accumulated debris on the nozzle rather than to scrape such debris from the nozzle.

Another object is to provide a wiper which not only scrapes accumulated debris from such a nozzle but collects such debris at a common location longitudinally of the nozzle.

Another object is to provide a lubricating system whereby lubricant is transferred to the nozzle by the wiper to facilitate cleaning of the nozzle.

These, together with other objects, will become more fully apparent upon reference to the following description and accompanying drawing.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a vertical section taken through a gin stand of a cotton gin showing an apparatus embodying .the principles of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a somewhat enlarged fragmentary top plan view taken at a position indicated by line 2-2 of Fig. 1 and illustrating the relationship of the subject wiper and air blast nozzle of a cotton gin.

Fig. 3 is a somewhat enlarged transverse section of the apparatus of the subject invention also illustrating a fragmentary transverse sectional view of an air blast nozzle.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, an elongated gin stand 10 of the type employed in a cotton gin is illustrated in section in Fig. 1. For purposes of reference and orientation with the operational environment, the gin stand includes an inlet 11 adapted to receive raw cotton to be ginned, a roll compartment 12 adapted to receive a roll of said cotton, and a mote chamber 13 laterally inwardly spaced from the roll compartment and having upper and lower sections 15 and 16.

. A plurality of huller ribs 20 are mounted in the stand 10 generally between the inlet 11 and roll compartment 12 whereas a plurality of ginning ribs 21 generally divide the roll compartment from the mote chamber 13, all in a well-known manner. Also conventional are picker rollers 22 and 23 for feeding the cotton from the inlet 11 into the seed roll and preliminarily removing leaves, trash, and the like, from the cotton. An elongated saw cylinder 26 is rotatably mounted in the stand and includes a plurality of circular saws 27 in longitudinally spaced relation to each other along the length of the cylinder and individually extended between the ginning ribs for whirling movement therebetween.

An elongated lint fine 30 is provided in the stand 10 and has an open receiving end 31 adjacent to a dofiing station along the periphery of the saw cylinder 26. In rotating, the saws engage the cotton in the seed roll and pull it through the ginning ribs in separation from the cotton seeds which fall down between the ginning and huller ribs 20. The lint cotton is carried by the saws into the doffing station in opposition to the receiving end of the lint flue.

An air supply conduit 35 is extended longitudinally within the stand 10 and is connected by means of an air duct 36 to an air blast nozzle 38 directed into the receiving end 31 of the flue 30 and substantially tangentially against the saws 27 at the doffing station. The nozzle emits a blast of air against the saws and the cotton carried thereby to blow the cotton from the saws into the flue where it is carried for further processing.

As is known, the whirling saws 27 frequently break the cotton seeds and throw the same, known as motes, into the mote chamber 13 along with other debris, such as leaves, trash, and the like. An elongated screw conveyer 40 is provided in the lower section 16 of the mote chamber, and a suction pipe 41 is conventionally provided for drawing the debris and motes into the conveyer whereby they are carried to some point of discharge. However, a certain portion of such debris and motes collects on the outer surface 45 of the nozzle 38 disposed toward the mote chamber 13 and adjacent to the dofiing station and tenaciously adhere thereto with the concurrent accumulation of wax and gum of the cotton. 7

The subject nozzle cleaning apparatus is generally indicated by the numeral 50 and includes an elongated wiper 51 providing a shaft 52 rotatably mounted in the gin stand and located in the mote chamber 13. More specifically, the shaft is in laterally upwardly spaced relation to the outer surface 45 of the nozzle 38 and substantially parallel to said nozzle surface throughout the length thereof. A hub 53 is secured to the shaft for rotation therewith, and a pair of blades 54 and 55 are connected to the hub and helically extended around the shaft. As best indicated in Fig. 2, the blades are wound in opposite direction around the shaft and at opposite end portions thereof so as to provide adjacent inner ends 56 and 57 and remote outer ends 58 and 59. Each blade has a preferably metallic bifurcated inner section 60 integral with the hub, and an outer resiliently flexible and compressible section 61, of rubber or the iike, clamped in the inner section by means of bolts 62. A driven sprocket 63 is also rigidly connected to the shaft at one end thereof.

With particular reference to Fig. 1, an idler shaft 70 is mounted in the gin stand 10 in the mote chamber 13 thereof below the wiper shaft 52. An idler sprocket 71, in mesh With the driven sprocket 63 and an idler pulley 72 are rigidly connected to the idler shaft. A drive pulley 74 is secured to the saw cylinder 26 for rotation therewith, and a pulley belt 75 is extended around the drive and idler pulleys so as to rotate the wiper 51 incident to rotation of the saw cylinder 26.

A receptacle 80 is mounted in the mote chamber 13 of the gin stand 10 and contains spindle cleaning oil, solvent or other cleaning or trash accumulation resistant material. An elongated, transversely arcuate, oil pad or wick 81 is also mounted in the mote chamber in radially spaced, concentric relation to the shaft 52. The pad extends throughout substantially the entire length of the wiper blades 54 and 55 on generally the opposite side of the shaft from the nozzle 38. An elongated manifold 82 is extended longitudinally in the mote chamber and mounted in the gin stand. A feed conduit interconnects the receptacle and the manifold for supplying the designated fluid to the manifold. A plurality of delivery ducts interconnect the padand the manifold in longitudinally spaced positions along the pad for supplying a substantially uniform distribution of oil to the pad. As the blades rotate, the outer sections 61 thereof wipe against the pad during each cycle of rotation so that spindle cleaning oil is transmitted to the blades.

Operation The operation of the described embodiment of the subject invention is believed to be readily apparent and is briefly summarized at this point.

During operation of the gin stand 10, the saw cylinder 26 is rotated by conventional means. This rotates the wiper 51 through the drive mechanism including the pulleys 72 and 74 and the sprockets 63 and 71, as described.

The wiper blades 54 and 55 engage the surface 45 of the nozzle 33 during rotation of the wiper 51, so as to remove any debris which collects on such surface incident to the ginning operations, as described above. It is sig nificant to note that the blades engage the nozzle longitudinally progressively therealong from the opposite outer ends of the nozzle toward the center thereof, as best visualized in Fig. 2. This achieves a wiping effect having a component longitudinally of the nozzle. The blades are helically wound around the shaft so as to move the debris toward the center of the nozzle, as will also be evident in Fig. 2. Because of this progressive and continuous engagernent of the blades with the nozzle, the resistance to rotation of the wiper is substantially constant. Again, the blades engage the nozzle at an oblique angle relative to the longitudinal extension of the nozzle. Both of these features permit more thorough cleaning of the nozzle and minimize the tendency of the resiliently flexible outer sections 61 of the blades to flex rearwardly over accumulated debris on the nozzle.

It has long been the practice manually to clean accumulated motes and trash from the described air nozzles even when mechanical wiping mechanisms have been utilized. This has been a tedious and repetitious requirement. Such previous mechanisms have long been recognized as failing successfully to attain the desired cleaning and the problem has been one confronted by every gin operator. Previous intended solutions have proved unsuccessful largely because all flexible blades employed have flexed and ridden over the accumuated trash. Rigid blades have either been inoperable or have gradually worn away to leave the accumulations. In contrast, the device of the present invention has proved fully successful. The helical form of the blade avoids the flexing and resultant override of trash to which all previous flexible wiping blades have been subject. The avoidance of the flexing and override assures a clean wiping of the nozzle each time the blade travels thereover. Additionally, the longitudinal scraping action attained by the helical form of the blade has proved of further. advantage in the cleaning operation. As the result, the described problem which has long confronted the industry has been successfully solved by the subject invention.

Although the invention has been herein shown and described in What is conceived to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is recognized that departures may be made therefrom within the scope of the inven tion, which is not to be limited to the details disclosed herein but is to be accorded the full scope of the claim so as to embrace any and all equivalent devices and apparatus.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

In an elongated gin stand providing a roll compartment for receiving a roll of cotton to be ginned and a mote chamber, spaced ginning ribs separating the roll compartment from the mote chamber, ginning saws extended between the rims into the roll compartment and mounted for rotary movement so as to engage cotton in the roll and pull it through the ribs to a dofling station and whereby motes are thrown by the saws into the mote chamber, a lint flue having an open receiving end adjacent to said dofling station, and an elongated air blast nozzle adjacent to said doffing station for blowing cotton from the saws into the flue and having an outer surface on which such motes tend to collect disposed toward the mote chamber; an air nozzle cleaner comprising an elongated shaft rot'atably mounted in the stand and extended longitudinally in the mote chamber in adjacent spaced relation to the outer surface of the nozzle, an elongated blade mounted on,and helically extended around the shaft and engaging the outer surface of the nozzle longitudinally progressively therealong for wiping motes from the nozzle, drive means connected to the shaft for imparting rotary movement to the shaft, a blade cleaning pad mounted in the stand in radially spaced relation to the shaft for engagement by the blade during rotation thereof, and means connected to the pad for supplying a cleaning fluid to the pad.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,013,053 Phelps .Dec. 26, 1911 1,703,002 Hart Feb. 19, 1929 1,979,017 Streun, Oct. 30, 1934 2,658,239 Day Nov. 10, 1953 

